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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Awww, Gawd! Move over Cliven Bundy, your 15 minutes of "One Thing I Know About The Negro" fame are over. You've been trumped by a rich old geezer suffering from Mandigophobia.

Yes, it's Donald Sterling, slumlord billionaire owner of the Clippers, an almost totally black basketball team, who was allegedly caught on tape whining to his black/Mexican beautiful young mistress that she must stop appearing in public with black people and then posting those photos on social media.

Racist! was the cry that went forth into a land recently declared to be totally Post Racial by the cloistered and clueless Supreme Court. And certainly there was plenty of that, with Sterling's words digging himself a deeper and deeper hole with every wheedle and whine.

Naturally, Mr. Sterling's players were outraged, dismayed, angry, but shackled by contract obligations, there was little they could do but symbolically strip off their (logo) warm-up tops on court and play in their blank turned-inside-out jerseys. Then go on to lose the game. And, also shackled by league rules, the NBA had to hem and haw as to Oh Whatever Shall We Do With This Guy? But so far, there doesn't appear to be much of anything that can be done. Fine a billionaire? Big whoops.

True, fans can boycott the games, but that just hurts the players; the players can walk out and get sued for breaching their contracts, but that only hurts the players as well. And buying out Sterling will only richly reward him with more gazillions since the team, bought for a song originally, is now worth a bundle.

So there it sits, options limited, but outrage still at maximum levels. But one bit of age-old comedy seemed to go missing in all the fury: The tale of a rich old racist geezer with dreams of plantations floating through his brain, his secret black (Mexican) mistress squirreled away from the Wife in the Big house, (in this case, a wife suing the mistress for return of all of Sterling's expensive mistress-gifties.), worrying about Mandingo -- The thought of his beautiful young mistress out in public with handsome, rich, famous, studly young black men. And worse yet, posting those damned pictures on social media for all to see.

And perhaps make the sly comparisons? The winks? The Nudges? Awwww, Gawwwwd, that old white guy sexual fear must have been unbearable! And all out there for everyone to see. And snicker.
Awww, Gawwdd!

Well, what's to be expected when you combine a rich old fool who should know better and a beautiful young thing who knows exactly what she knows? Right. Comedy as old as the hills.

The NBA was supposed to announce their decisions as to Whatever Shall We Do With This Guy? and perhaps going forward the league can get busy rewriting their rules for owners as well as players. And the National Racial Conversation can continue.

Until some new troglodyte pops up and the media circus begins anew. Maybe if there's enough of these pop-up racists, it might get the attention of the Supreme Court and help them see how the real world really operates in our smiley-faced post racial world.

5 comments:

One thing is for certain: when someone proclaims "I'm not a racist, but ... ", you can be certain that whatever follows is going to be over the top, unrepentant, blatant racism that will most likely make your jaw drop. Another thing for certain? NO one likes to be called a racist, no matter how racist their words and deeds make them out to be.

Does uttering a single racially tinged comment make you a racist? Not necessarily; if you make that comment and realize almost immediately realize that what you said could be construed as racist, you are probably pretty aware of how racist you could sound. The ones that don't have a clue as to how racist they truly are are those who feel comfortable spouting off anything outrageous comment; they feel comfortable hearing others speak racially insensitive remarks, they perk up and agree with certain "code" words (urban is one their favorites), and generally do not understand how racially insensitive some of their comments can be.

So, if you hear someone make a comment on a racial issue that is or could be construed as being racist and you don't feel uncomfortable when you hear that, you most likely are exhibiting the traits of being a racist. If hearing such talk does make you feel uncomfortable, then you are most likely doing your best to avoid being a racist. Think about it next time you hear someone spouting off.

Bob, good points. Slavery has been described as America's Original Sin. That's true and we have not expunged that sin, though we are making progress. It's impossible not to absorb whatever racial/religious/ethnic/whatever bias that permeats the popular culture/ethos we're raised in Impossible. Kids have big ears, they hear and learn and absorb their world. Plus, humans are tribal monkeys who instinctively divide themselves into Me/Mine and . . . Those OTHER Guys. It's in our DNA. Even little kids recognize and respond to "different."

The conflation of "different" with "inferior/lesser/dangerous/evil/bad" etc. comes later and has to be carefully taught.

What's interesting is how so many racists know they're full of crap so they "disguise" their real beliefs using dog-whistle music and coded language. Like they don't think people know what they're doing?

Not sure what others really mean by the term "racist," but I think I am a little racist, and it seems to me that everyone else is too. Isn't it part of the human condition to notice differences and have feelings about them? I have felt discriminated against by black people, (and who could blame them?) I think the term has become so loaded that we are all afraid to take a peek at ourselves to see if we are one. I think the sooner we look at ourselves and admit to ourselves that we are racists, the sooner we can start getting past the fear, laughing at ourselves, forgiving ourselves and then maybe even each other, and maybe loving each other for our common humanity, in spite of our obvious differences.Dan Keller

Dan: Thoughtful response; as to the term "racist", to me that applies to those who take their own personal prejudges, allow them to fester to the level of bigotry, them actually speak them out in public and possibly even commit into action a way of making those they feel are so "less than" they are to be wrong, bad, evil, "different than". Yes, we all have our own prejudges, inherent in how we were brought up, re-enforced with personal experiences, and either tamped down by those of us who do NOT want to be perceived as racist, or allowed to come out by those who really either don't care or just plain don't get it. To get to the point of being labeled as racist, one really has to be over the top bigoted and speaking and acting out in that manner.

Calhouns Can(n)ons

About the Can(n)ons

Calhoun's Can(n)ons was originally published in 1990 in the (now defunct) Morro Bay, CA, Sun Bulletin, and since 1992 has continued in the various resurrections of the Los Osos, CA. Bay News, Bay Breeze, Bay News, Bay News-Tolosa Press. A few years ago, the Can(n)on was added to the Central Coast NewsMission blogsite. Ann Calhoun lives in Los Osos. You can email her at Churadogs at gmail dot com

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